“A few brush strokes have come to define the otherwise obscure 18th-century composer later known as ‘Il Divino Boemo’, or the Divine Bohemian: Josef Myslivecek. He was a close friend of Mozart and a musical influence on him. He was one of the most celebrated opera composers in Italy in the 1770s.

Myslivecek’s music has its own merits. It is sprightly, modestly inventive, melodically pleasing. Just as much, it provides a slice of context for the works of Mozart, a composer of truly divine spark whose friendship with Myslivecek is one of the more touching stories in classical music. ‘He was unquestionably one of the greatest models for the young Mozart in composition, and he had a close personal relationship with Mozart that was unique’, said Daniel E. Freeman, a lecturer in music at the University of Minnesota. ‘There is no other composer in his entire life’, Mr. Freeman said, for whom Mozart ‘expressed such affection’.”